Keyword Searches and Notifications

[parki]

Hi all,

just a quick suggestion from a new subscriber:

how about the ability to setup keyword searches in IceTv, and get a notification via email/RSS/whatever that there's a match (and maybe a "click here to record this show" link)?

For instance, my wife is just completing a degree in Japanese, so she wants me to record anything related to Japan. It would be great if I could just say "tell me about all new programs coming up that mention the word Japan in title or synopsis" and have the option to record them.

It doesn't sound that difficult  ;D

Steve.

[j s]

Agree! Especially the notification aspect as keyword searching can sometimes turn up undesirable matches. The ideal would be to have a choice on each search definition of whether to notify or auto-create.

Other auto-record applications also allow the flexibility of (optional) regular expression searches giving a really powerful capability.

[prl]

And/or allow standing user searches to add items to the Recommended programs. Perhaps with a different-coloured star?

[Marc]

We hear you.

Keyword tracking and automatic recording would be a great feature.

[Matt at IceTV]

how about the ability to setup keyword searches in IceTv, and get a notification via email/RSS/whatever that there's a match (and maybe a "click here to record this show" link)?

We released our new RSS Feed last week. For more information go to the News section of our website (http://www.icetv.com.au/news/?p=249).

and the news gets even better....

If you own an IceTV Interactive compatible device you will soon be able to setup shows to automatically record based on an actor's name, director's name or on any basic search term you can think of. If your keyword matches a word in the Title and/or Title & Description of any show found in the IceTV EPG for the week ahead you can be notified (via a Keyword Favourite) or have the show automatically record (Keyword Record).

We will be announcing the new Keyword based features as part of IceTV Interactive very soon ... so stay tuned!!!

Regards,

mattk
IceTV

[Marc]

More information about keyword recording and keyword favourites can be found here:
http://www.icetv.com.au/interactive/about

For instance, my wife is just completing a degree in Japanese, so she wants me to record anything related to Japan. It would be great if I could just say "tell me about all new programs coming up that mention the word Japan in title or synopsis" and have the option to record them.

In your specific case, here's something that might work well.

1. Type "japan" into the search field on the TV guide guide in Interactive and press return.
2. Click on "Add a Keyword Record or Keyword Favourite for ‘japan’" and change the text field to say "japan -news". That will search for everything with japan in it, but will exclude the Japanese News on SBS.
3. Set the device that you'd like to record to and leave action on "Record".
4. Click "Add Keyword Record".

...now everything with Japan in the title or description will record! If you'd like, you can also subscribe to the My Upcoming Shows RSS feed, so you can see the matches as they happen. Should work really well for what you're after!

[Nem]

I can only set up a keyword record if something gets a hit though in the search results.
eg:
Long Way Round allows me to set up a KWR
Long Way Down does not.

I know that Long Way Down is coming - its been advertised on SBS advising so. I could set up a "Long Way" KWR but since Ive already watched Long Way Round dont really feel I need to possibly record it again.

Picky picky I guess. :-*
Otherwise I do think the new functionality is great though.

**edit I'm going to set up a record with -round in it.

[Marc]

I can only set up a keyword record if something gets a hit though in the search results.

That's a known issue and something we'll be fixing soon. You found it out quickly though!

You could set up the Keyword Record for "Long Way", then go into My Shows and edit it to be "Long Way Down".

[Nem]

That's a known issue and something we'll be fixing soon. You found it out quickly though!
You could set up the Keyword Record for "Long Way", then go into My Shows and edit it to be "Long Way Down".

Duh (to me) of course!!  :D I just got carried away with the new functionality. Already my recording list has doubled!

How about being able to include the program type? eg: Lifestyle

[mtb]

I just found this feature the other day and love it, could end up using it more than the normal flagging.  A couple of questions/feature requests...

Can an option be added to enable the search to be across just title or just description or both (as elsewhere).

I assume that if the search clue is Thomas Engine it will only match exactly that text e.g. "Thomas Engine" and not "Thomas The Tank Engine".  Would it be possible to include wildcards or regular expressions at some future time?

Keep up the good work folks.

p.s. You can add any search as an RSS feed by editing the URL before adding it to the reader too.

[Nem]

I assume that if the search clue is Thomas Engine it will only match exactly that text e.g. "Thomas Engine" and not "Thomas The Tank Engine".  Would it be possible to include wildcards or regular expressions at some future time?

From what I can currently see searching "Thomas Engine" searches for Thomas AND Engine in the one result but not necessarily together. Searching without the quotes returns hits with either of the keywords. Adding a minus before a word excludes hits containing that key word as explained above in the Japan -news example.
It is already searching by wildcards because partial searches of words return the full word. If the search contains the full regular expression then it only returns those results as long as the phrase is quoted. Of course the expression might be jumbled and not as quoted but how many hits are likely to be found with all the required words within quotation marks?

Its explained in some detail on the Interactive page.

More advanced users may wish to take advantage of quotes and minus symbols, allowing for powerful search terms. A search for “Ricky Gervais” will actually search for a match of “Ricky” AND “Gervais”. Quotes can be used for exact phrase matching. Searching for “"Ricky Gervais"” (with quotes in the actual search field) will search for the phrase “Ricky Gervais”. Minus (“-”) can be used to exclude words or phrases. “Ricky Gervais -Office” would search for all instances of “Ricky” AND “Gervais” that don't also contain “Office”.

[Marc]

Nem's on the money.

You can also use quotes with exclusions. [ "Thomas the tank engine" -"Fat controller" ] would search for an exact match of "Thomas the tank engine", but remove anything with "Fat controller".

Hopefully you'll all find it's powerful enough for almost anything.

Also... The quality option works like this:
Standard definition = records standard def ONLY. So if the show is broadcast in SD and HD, it'll only record the SD one. If it's only in HD, it won't record.
Prefer high definition = records high def if available. So if the show is broadcast in SD and HD, it'll record in HD. If it's only in SD, it'll record SD.

[Nem]

Also... The quality option works like this:
Standard definition = records standard def ONLY. So if the show is broadcast in SD and HD, it'll only record the SD one. If it's only in HD, it won't record.
Prefer high definition = records high def if available. So if the show is broadcast in SD and HD, it'll record in HD. If it's only in SD, it'll record SD.

This isnt really that great for my region as DDT HD show all the programs in the EPG but are quite often only playing the filler broadcast vision on the HD channel.

[kidhazy]

I just noticed the keywords feature allows us to specify the "Quality" option (either 'Prefer HD' or 'Standard Def').

I'm assuming if the keyword finds a match for the same show on a SD and a HD channel that it will only record the HD channel if we have "Prefer HD" specified.

Will this be something that'll be moved over to the My Shows recordings to allow it to automatically pick up shows with a preference to record the HD version, but also to catch it on SD if the programming changes ?

[Marc]

I'm assuming if the keyword finds a match for the same show on a SD and a HD channel that it will only record the HD channel if we have "Prefer HD" specified.

That's correct.

You're also correct in assuming it'll be part of the series recording options soon too.